Strife, Tifa Strife
by Panbe Oni Dasha
Summary: “If you get married to Cloud, you know you’ll be Tifa Strife, right?” CloTi


**A/N: **This is my first CloTi EVAR. I'm not really sure if I like them yet. I love both characters themselves, I'm not sure as pairing yet though. I must admit, they're pretty cute together and they both kick ass. If they were together officially, it would be one cute kickass couple.

**Summary:**"If you get married to Cloud, you know you'll be Tifa Strife, right?" CloTi.

**WARNINGS: **Fluff, Tifa with a piece of cloth, Cloud being stupid, Marlene asking stupid things, Denzel staring stupidly. I might be bashing some Anime in one part, but do not fear, it was meant to be sort of ironic.

**Word Count:** 1,577

**Rating:** K

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. _Oh, the shame!_

I apologise if you find any mistakes.

* * *

"No."

"… What?"

"I'm not taking it."

"Why…?"

"Because it sounds _horrible, _that's why."

"But… I just-"

"No, Cloud." Tifa said more sternly, glaring at the blonde with a fierce intensity.

Now 12 years old, Denzel stared up at the couple, his brown fringe falling over his forehead as he tilted his head curiously, watching as Tifa's scowling face scrunched tightly, her usually soft brown eyes burning and Cloud looking more and more like a child who had just been caught by his mother with his hand in the forbidden cookie jar.

It'd been a while since they fought, Denzel noted, seeing Tifa turn away from Cloud suddenly, her back to him, cleaning some leftover wine glasses that customers had consumed, paying no attention to blonde male as she bent down and placed the dirty wine glasses in the sink, turning the tap on and grabbing a tea towel, scrubbing the object furiously.

Cloud looked so helpless, raising his hand, trying to reach out and tap her on the shoulder but hesitating, guilt flashing through his Mako eyes. He shifted his gaze down to the floor, lowering his hand silently, sighing quietly. Then, grabbing the bar counter, he sat down on one of the chairs, not noticing that Denzel was watching him rather intriguingly, his sapphire eyes wide.

He tapped the bench, his eyes flickering around the room, undecipherable emotions swimming in his azure eyes, like a Kaleidoscope of feelings and thoughts twirling and twisting around beneath them, making the blonde as good as warrior as he was a interrogator- no one could read his face if he didn't want them to. Many people found them frightening, a trademark of an ex-SOLDIER: a killer… a monster.

But, Denzel knew Cloud wasn't one anyway- never had been one and he had been told by Marlene regularly (and sometimes Tifa) that he was too much of a sweetheart to become one, even in the past when he pretended to be cool, cocky and confident- but he'd been told not to tell Cloud they thought of him that way. The blonde might take it the wrong way and scowl.

Denzel, however, found his eyes rather intriguing.

Marlene had also said they were very pretty and, according to Tifa, many girls seemed to like them too.

He, then, looked at Tifa, who was still cleaning, her back still facing them. She was a sweetheart herself, and a very beautiful one at that. But, sometimes Denzel wondered about her rather endowed torso. Many males, drunk, had commented on it too, which caused Tifa to punch them harshly (she had one mean right-hitter) and Cloud to give them cold glares all night, sometimes if he was in a really bad mood, throwing them outside.

Denzel did not ask after that. He was sort of scared it would happen to himself, but he half-knew they wouldn't do that to him, even if they were having a bad day.

Drawing himself back from his thoughts, he watched as the couple were silent, not saying anything. He turned to look at Cloud, who looked like he was preparing himself to speak.

"Tifa…" he whispered, surprising himself. Denzel saw Tifa scrub the wine glasses harder at the sound, ignoring him.

It was so stupid, the reason they were fighting. Even Denzel, a child (don't call him a kid to his face though- you'll regret it), thought so. They were fighting over some stupid little comment Marlene had made when she went on her vacation with Yuffie, Vincent and Red XIII as a present for her birthday that was a few days ago.

"_Tifa…_" Cloud tried again, his voice a little stronger this time. "Listen… I-"

She interrupted him swiftly. "Cloud…"

"What?"

"This is so pathetic!" yelled Tifa, slamming her fist onto the counter, the object shaking slightly from the harsh impact. "We're fighting over something so _stupid_… so _silly_… so _small_…"

Denzel resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I know." Cloud agreed quickly, his voice hushed.

She continued on, "But…"

_Here it comes, _Denzel thought, watching Tifa carefully.

"I will not be Tifa Strife!"

"Why not…?"

"Because it sounds like I'm a Japanese Anime character or something!" **(1)**

"I've had to live with it for years, Tifa! How did you think I feel?"

"I don't know… sad, depressed, emo-y?"

"H-Hey…! That's a low blow."

Denzel sighed heavily, thinking, _Marlene… why'd you have to say that? Why'd you have to go to Tifa: 'If you get married to Cloud, you know you'll be Tifa Strife, right?' _He wiped his forehead absentmindedly. _You knew Cloud would be offended, Marlene. You knew. You knew Tifa wouldn't want to become Tifa Strife and Cloud would ask why and they would fight, didn't you? Damn it._

He shook his head, looking up to see Tifa waving the piece of dirty cloth she was using to clean the wine glasses before wildly. Cloud had stepped back a few steps, not waiting the black-haired woman whack the towel across his face like she had done once accidently when he was trying to help her with cleaning the dishes. Let's just say, now he asks to help beforehand, not just running in blindly, something he used to do a lot. Inwardly, he blamed it on his hero nature- his 'I-must-save/help-you' nature.

Suddenly, Tifa stopped swinging the cloth around like a mad woman and put it down slowly, placing both hands on the bench, hunching over, a long, drawn-out breath emitting from her. It almost looked like she was forcing all the anger out of her.

She pushes herself off the table, glancing at Cloud with a gentle smile, but it looked a little forced, Denzel noticed.

Cloud must have noticed this too as he frowned, concerned, placing his arm on her shoulder gently, as if he was trying to comfort her.

It was working, as Tifa giggled, taking a hold of his glove-less hand and pulling it off her shoulder cautiously and let it hang with hers downwards, both dangling and entwined. The blonde looked down at their hands, a small tug of his lips being seen- his whole entire face just _glowing._

They were like that for sometime, before Tifa whispered, "Cloud…"

"Hm?" He sounded content.

"I'm… sorry." She said, her coffee-coloured eyes looking at him pleadingly, the blonde feeling his breath catch in his throat. "Strife isn't a horrible last name… I just… it suits you, of course… but…"

Cloud nodded, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah… I know. I'm- I'm sorry too. Just… don't worry about it, okay?"

"But…" started Tifa, but he interrupted her.

"We're not even getting married yet… so don't worry about it." He concluded finally, and Tifa smiled gently at the word 'yet'.

Denzel, who had been watching curiously the whole time, beamed. He walked over to the bar counter and lifted himself onto the seat (with a little trouble, mind you) and the chair squeaked at the sudden weight.

Tifa let go of Cloud's hand, who looked mildly disappointed, and walked over to Denzel, greeting him. The blonde male sauntered over, not saying anything, instead ruffling Denzel's hair gently, his cobalt Mako eyes shining with happiness that Denzel had been seeing more and more often lately after the whole remnants and disease thing was gone.

The black-haired female went back to cleaning, Cloud helping her- he did ask first again, just to be extra careful- and Denzel watching the couple wash the dinnerware happily (which he found slightly odd- he hated chores).

There was a comfortable silence, one that hadn't been there in years. Finally, there was peaceful, happy silence which wasn't caused by Cloud brooding, Tifa not knowing what to say, Denzel asking an awkward question or Marlene yelling.

It was… nice.

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_

…

Damn it.

Cloud ambled over to the phone, picking it up, mumbling resentfully (he must still not like the tagline), "… Strife Delivery Service. You name it, we deliver it."

There was low distinctive mumbling on the other line.

"Oh, hi… Yuffie." The blonde said, running a hand through his spikes.

More mumbling.

"Yeah, I'll put her on for you." He walked over to Tifa, handing her the phone.

She nodded, lifting the phone up to her ear, saying, "Hey."

"_Hiya, Boobs!"_

She frowned, placing her hand on her hip in a typical motherly fashion. "Yuffie, you'd said you would stop calling me that…"

"_Heh, heh. Sorry."_

"Nevermind. How's Marlene?"

"_Great! She loves it here in Wutai!"_

"Really? That's great news."

"_But… she wanted me to ask you a question…"_

"Oh, alright. What is it?"

"_Are you going to marry Cloud and become Tifa Strife?"_

Denzel sighed as he watched Tifa hung up abruptly, Cloud scowling.

He clearly heard that.

"Why do you hate the last name Strife so much?"

_Damnit, Cloud! _Denzel thought.

He sat there on the stool, seeing Tifa grab the piece of cloth again, yelling at the blonde while Cloud glowered, his feminine features hard as he muttered retorts back quietly, sometimes his husky voice rising slightly. She moved forward- Cloud being too slow to react- and whipped the towel, slapping hard against Cloud's backside, the blonde groaning at the sharp pain below his tailbone.

He ran off, not wanting to be hit again, Tifa suddenly sprinting after him, the couple disappearing up the stairs. Although, Denzel could still hear them yelling loudly at each other.

He exhaled loudly.

_I hate you, Marlene. So much. _

* * *

**(1) Oh, the **_**irony. **_**Tifa, darling, you do know you're a Japanese Anime videogame character with the cliché of having over-sized breasts? Not that I don't love you any less because of it. (You'repureawesomeness.)**

**A/N: **hat was just pointless dribble. LOLZ. Do you think Tifa and Cloud were rather in-character? Remember, it is set after Advent Children, so Cloud's gotta be a little happier and louder, I think. Anywho, sorry if you find mistakes or you didn't like it. This is my first CloTi and I'm normally into yaoi.

So, uhm, reviews?


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